Princess Marie attends the opening of Too Good To Go’s new store in Frederiksberg

Today, Princess Marie was in Frederiskberg to attend her first official event since the end of her summer holidays. She was on hand to open the new Too Good To Go store with Selina Juul, the founder of Stop Spild Af Mad, and Mette Lykke, the CEO of Too Good To Go.

Too Good To Go is the world’s largest online platform for surplus food. Through the app, everyone can take action against food waste and help us achieve our vision of a world with no waste. Today almost 6 million meals have been saved and the app has 4,6 million users in eight countries. The Too Good To Go app was originally created by five young entrepreneurs and started in 2016. On 1st July 2016, Mette Lykke, co-founder of Endomondo, came on board as CEO. There are 160 employees in total, of which 50 are based in Denmark.

The app has been around since 2016 and has since grown at record speed. Today, it is possible to buy surplus food from more than 10,000 places in eight countries through Too Good To Go. TV2 reports that: ” Over the past two years, 4.6 million users have bought six million meals that were otherwise thrown out, and it makes Too Good To Go the world’s largest online marketplace for surplus food.”

Now that there are more than 10,000 businesses signed up and around 20,000 meals being saved daily through the app, it is time for the next step in the fight against food waste.

“Every year a third of all food ends up in a landfill. Almost 40% of Europe’s food waste happens before the food reaches the stores and that’s why we have created our own space where we can offer goods direct from manufacturers and wholesalers. We feel that addressing the issue higher up the chain is key in order to have a bigger impact on the food waste issue” says Mette Lykke.

Urtekram, Knorr and Santa Maria are already on the list of brands which will be available at the new store. All the products are entirely edible but, for one reason or another, they aren’t able to be sold in the supermarket because they are nearing the final date of sale, have a badly printed label or, in one way or another, do not comply with the standards of supermarkets. Urtekram’s CEO Peter Overgaard says: ”For us, it’s important to support new sustainable initiatives. Too Good To Go is making it possible for us to sell the products that have an expiry date that’s too short for the supermarket to accept”

Mette Lykke also wants the store to help change the habits we have at home regarding food waste: “The store is a pickup point but there will also be lots of help and information available on how to change habits at home. We also invite students to stop by and get help on their assignments on food waste. Our ambition is for it to become a real hub, the heart of our food waste community”

During the opening reception, Marie explained that she knew about the app and was using it too. When asked by Billed-Bladet how she learned about the app, she said it was thanks to Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix. The store was officially opened when Marie made an order from the app and received her order at the counter. Mette Lykke explained that the users of the app could still use the app as usual – ordering from the app and being delivered the meal at home- but they could also now pick up their order from the store and take part in the events that will be hosted there.

The fight against food waste has been one of Princess Marie’s biggest cause in the past few years so it’s no surprise to see her being involved in this event. She is expected to attend the Better Food For More People – World Food Summit later this month in Copenhagen as Patron.

Princess Marie chose to wear a very summery outfit for this event. Her new navy dress is from Michael Kors. It is still available in navy here and in green here. [Note: you can shop similar dresses here]